


Interrupting Starfish

by Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Cecil is less so and is just a little brat instead, Fluff, M/M, The other campers are kind of oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 10:44:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15629034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch/pseuds/Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch
Summary: Will and Nico's dates keep getting interrupted.





	Interrupting Starfish

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from that old knock knock joke about the interrupting starfish.

If Nico had to rank a list of things he wanted to do with his day then hanging out with Will would have placed somewhere near the top (possibly at the top, though after an endless, restless night, sleep was also a good contender). Sitting on the grass near the lake and listening to a mixture of screams and whimpers as Will patiently detangled and unstuck Harley, Miranda and a pot plant following an unfortunate mishap with some superglue, was so weird he wouldn't have thought to put it on the list. (If he had it probably wouldn't have knocked Will (and/or sleep) off the top spot.) Nevertheless, he was sitting on the grass near the lake listening to the mixture of screams and whimpers as Will detangled Harley, Miranda, and the pot plant.

He and Will were supposed to be on a date. Nico thought it was pretty obvious and yet he also was pretty sure no one else had realised this. Lou Ellen had already stopped on her way back to her cabin to ask if Will knew anyway to remove dye from hair or, failing that, how to kill a Hermes cabin member without being caught. Will had said no to the first and yes to the second though he'd declined to give any further details on the art of getting away with murder. He had suggested that Cecil would make a good piglet as Lou Ellen walked off. Nico was slightly suspicious she'd taken that very seriously.

Behind him the screams were dying down. In the comparative quiet he could Will admonishing them, though gentler and with more patience than Nico thought either of them really deserved. Now separated and able to function independently without the need to coordinate a crab like scuttle to get anywhere, Miranda went off one way with the pot plant and Harley went off the other. Will came back to sit down.

"I've been at camp a long time," he said. "But that was a first."

"People here at good at finding new and inventive ways to be utterly stupid," Nico agreed.

"I thought Harley would have more sense than that," Will answered thoughtfully, then reviewed what he'd said. "But then he did build a death maze."

"Happy times," Nico said with a roll of his eyes.

There was a picnic blanket spread out on the dry grass and a small picnic lunch, things they'd been able to scrounge from breakfast, cabin 13 and the kitchen, but between Lou Ellen and the superglue trio they hadn't been able to start eating it yet. Nico was ravenous, but trying to be polite. Will was staring at the sky, caught in a thought. When he turned back to Nico, his eyes were bright, a small smile threatening to break like the sun out of the clouds.

"You know," Will said. "If the maze was our month anniversary then we're now at 6 weeks."

"Do people celebrate 6 weeks?" Nico asked. He was kind of lost at sea, in over his head and otherwise completely clueless when it came to modern dating.

"Of course," Will said, half laughing. "Six weeks is so important."

"What's six weeks?" Cecil asked, doing the sidle out of nowhere he was famed for.

"The maximum sentence I'd get if I murdered you," Will said cheerfully. It was the kind of cheerful that hid grit teeth and eye rolling. Will did it well. Maybe too well. It was lost on Cecil who didn't take note of the deep sarcasm and sat himself down on the blanket and opened the chips Nico had had his eye on.

"Want one?" Cecil asked.

"Are you offering me my food?" Nico asked, sheer disbelief overruling his urge to yell. 

"Only polite," Cecil said with a shrug. His words were somewhat indistinguishable since he was trying very had not to talk with his mouth open.

"Did you want something Cecil?" Will asked pointedly, staring at the sky once again. He looked less lost in thought this time and more like he was silently pleading for patience, or for Cecil to be struck down whichever came first.

"Mmm," Cecil agreed, through another mouthful of crisps. "There was something."

Will waited a second or two.

"Well?"

Cecil tapped at his knee, thinking. Will shot Nico a look and Nico stifled a laugh. No one did exasperated quite like Will.

"You should write stuff down," Will commented, still addressing his remarks to the heavens. He'd gone through irritation, and was reaching a new kind of patience instead the kind reserved for young children, or small animals that weren't necessarily trying to be annoying but were managing to raise the blood pressure anyway.

"Might be an idea," Cecil agreed happily. "But I never have a pen."

"Isn't your dad the messenger god?" Nico asked. He didn't have the level of patience necessary for dealing with Cecil. The jury was out on young children or small animals. Then again the only young children he'd interacted with were either in the underworld or Harley so he didn't have the greatest sample to work from.

"Yeah-huh," Cecil said, apparently not seeing the irony in that, at all. He helped himself to some of the dip. Nico didn't like hummus and the fact he'd allowed it to make it onto the rug was a generous compromise on his part. He couldn't be too affronted therefore, but if Cecil started on the guacamole he wasn't going to be responsible for the consequences.

 "Oh I remember, there was a delivery for you. For the infirmary."

"Delivery?" Will repeated. "For the infirmary."

"That's what I said," Cecil said.

"I didn't order anything," Will said. He shook his head, and shook it off. "Unless the package is making disturbing ticking noises I will deal with it tomorrow."

Cecil took a sausage roll.

"I will endeavour to find out whether or not it is ticking," he said solemnly as he stood. He reached down as an afterthought and took a second sausage roll.

"For the road," he explained.

"Did it really take you that long to remember there was a package for me, or did you just want our food?"

"Missed breakfast," Cecil said. "Besides you've got loads more than the two of you could eat."

"Get out of here Cecil," Will said evenly. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. Cecil took one look at his expression and gave a hopefully innocent grin.

"See you later," Cecil said, making a hasty exit.

Will let out a breath and took a tortilla chip.

"I sometimes question my choice of friends."

"I always question your choice of friends."

"You don't mind Lou Ellen."

" _Because_ ," Nico said opening up the guacamole possessively, "it means I'm not the only mystic kid on campus. People are almost as scared she's going to turn them into a toad, as they are that I'm going to summon a zombie."

Will nodded very seriously.

"In both cases it's stupid. Lou can't turn anyone into a toad. And with you it's not just going to be just one zombie."

"I don't do that anymore," Nico protested which caused Will’s slight smile to widen. "I have a note. And besides -"

"Nico!"

"No," Nico said without turning, without looking up to see who it was.

Malcom completely ignored him.

"Nico," he said again, more insistently.

Will flashed him a smile.

"Yeah they're all terrified of you -" he said under his breath.

Nico shot him a fierce glare. It hit Will as hard as a feather.

"What?" Nico snapped.

"He's convinced you're about to turn him into a zombie," Will whispered.

"Shut up!" Nico snapped. "Not you," he added to a confused Malcom.

"You're supposed to be doing rooms," Malcom said.

"No," Nico said. "I swapped with Miranda who was -" he trailed off.

"Stuck to Harley," supplied Will cheerfully. "She went back towards the cabins."

Malcom nodded his thanks and hastened off, in what was probably one of the smartest tactical moves in Athena cabin history.

"I don't turn people into zombies," Nico said sulkily.

"Huh?"

"I summon them," Nico continued.

"Well I didn't make up the rumours," Will said with a mischievous grin. He gave Nico a side-look from under his eyelashes and Nico's stomach did a flip. That was unfair warfare because surely Will knew how he could still - after 6 weeks of dating - knock the ground out from Nico's feet, still shock Nico with the fact they were actually dating.

Nico suddenly didn't know what to do with his hands. He took another tortilla chip to cover how flustered he was.

He was almost glad when Kayla came running over. She didn't waste breath calling for her brother, just waiting until she'd skidded to a stop next to him.

"Julia," was all she said. There was an urgency in her that was worth a thousand words.

Will stood, glanced at Nico.

"Go," Nico said.

And that was the end of that date.

*

The next time they made a point of not sitting by a thoroughfare through camp and went down to the beach instead. The day was warm even with the slight breeze coming off from the sea and the gentle rush of the waves was adding to the heavy lull. Nico still wasn't sleeping well, and the day wasn't helping to make his eyelids feel any less heavy, but he was content enough to watch Will skipping stones.

Eventually Will hit his limit, and try as he might the stones wouldn't go beyond seven jumps. He dropped to the sand with a slight shrug.

"I'd like to see you do better," he teased in response Nico's slight and teasing smirk.

Nico couldn't skip stones if his life depended on it, but he stood anyway and picked up a likely one - flat and round and just like the stones Will had been sending dancing across the sea.

"Get ready," he said.

Will raised an eyebrow, leaning back on his hands, grinning.

"I'm waiting," he said.

How had Will done it? It was a kind of a sideways, fling sort of thing. He attempted it, and the stone sailed sideways to land on the beach.

"Spectacular," Will commented without any trace of irony in his voice, though his expression which indicated he was close to laughing, made up for that.

"It's avant-garde stone throwing," Nico explained, hoping he'd used avant-garde right, or that if he hadn't Will didn't know what it meant anyway.

"Oh I see," Will said, affecting a mincing accent. "Stone-throwing nouveau. How very vogue."

"I can't help it if I'm ahead of times," Nico said.

Will really was trying not to laugh now.

"Perhaps you could teach me the secret art of such perfect modern throwing?"

Nico gave up on the pretence and glared at him.

"Alright genius," he said. "How do you skip a stone?"

Will thought about that, picking up another one and miming the motion.

"It's a sort of -" he demonstrated, let the stone go and then winced as it thudded down into the sea with a splash.

"Nothing like that," he finished laughing.

"I don't know," Nico said. "That would have scored you a solid seven in avant-garde stone throwing."

Will grinned, the bright grin with the mischievous tug at the corner of his mouth. The one that always seemed to make Nico's heart thud to a halt, and him to feel weak in a way that was frankly slightly embarrassing.

"I had a very good teacher," Will said solemnly. "So good that you didn't even teach me at all, rather your mediocre-ness at the traditional sport rubbed off on me to - ow!"

"That didn't hurt," Nico said, withdrawing his hand after shoving Will's shoulder. Will scowled obstinately, and shoved him back. Nico was off balance and he tipped right over all the way, sprawling sideways onto the sand. His breath stopped in a sudden rush of surprise and confusion, then came back in a mixed protest, mixed involuntary giggle as Will's infectious laughter caught in the air.

Will pulled him up, reminding Nico once again that the blonde was far stronger than he looked, and Nico was suddenly staring into bright blue eyes, bright blue eyes that were always his downfall. Will was close, close enough that his freckles were no longer an ill defined mess across his cheeks, instead Nico could map each one. Will suddenly seemed unsure, giving Nico the smaller smile, the shyer one that didn't have Nico weak so much as melting.

Suddenly Will stilled, head titled, listening and not at all focused on Nico anymore.

Nico listened too, but he wasn't sure what had distracted Will.

"Will?"

"Maybe it wasn't anything," Will said. But he seemed unsure. "I thought I heard -"

He broke off again. Nico turned to look back towards woods following Will's line of sight. He sat still, tensed. In theory, nothing could get into camp.

In theory. 

Nico re-positioned himself, putting himself more directly in front of Will, just in case.

"What -" Nico began but then he heard what Will had picked up on: footsteps coming towards them. Lots of footsteps. Will didn't seem alarmed so much as confused, but Nico's hand drifted unwarranted towards where his sword would be if it wasn't instead back in his cabin.

Then he heard voices, the shouts of their friends. He relaxed and Will shrugged.

"I think Kayla said there might have been some game going on," Will said. "Maybe soccer? Or volley ball."

"Not a horde of monsters then," Nico said.

"Nope," Will agreed. "Just as noisy as a horde of monsters."

Nico laughed, mostly as a response to the sudden feeling of relief. He turned back to Will, found him smirking.

"You were totally going to fight off the horde of monsters for me," Will teased.

Nico blushed.

"We are on a date," he pointed out. "It's the gentlemanly thing to do."

"And I'm the appreciative blushing maiden?" Will asked.

Nico grinned at him.

"Southern belle," he nodded. "Probably with a fan."

Will mimed fanning himself, with a slight eye roll and a devious grin.

"Suits you," Nico commented, readying himself for the shove he was sure was coming. Will surprised him, kissing him instead.

A thunderous shouting, hammering of feet had them startled apart as a white ball shot past them, nearly hitting them. What seemed like the entirety of camp, followed it screaming and shouting, pushing and shoving to get to the front.

"Get it Will!" Austin yelled.

"Nico!" Lou Ellen called.

Will glanced at Nico, who gave him a resigned shrug. Will grinned, jumped up, pushing Nico back down as he did and raced after the ball.

And that was the end of that date.

*

Will had turned up to his cabin after a shift in the infirmary as arranged. He was tired but cheerful. Nico was one half of those things, but he was pleased enough to see Will.

He let Will talk and listened, the words turning into a soft lull that had his eyelids feeling heavy. He tried to stay awake but what was now a string of sleepless nights were catching up with him. He yawned, jaw clicking.

Will laughed.

“Am I keeping you up?”

Nico threw a pillow at him perfunctorily, trying to stifle yet another yawn. Will smiled.

“I’m fine,” Nico said, throwing the other pillow to wipe the smile off Will’s face. Will caught it, and his smile didn’t go anywhere.

“You know that sleep is this thing that people partake in that means you don’t yawn so much.”

“I’ve been _trying_ to sleep.”

“You were reading comics until 1am,” Will said. “Cecil told me.”

Cecil is a liar,” Nico grumbled. He’d thrown away his pillows and they were too far away to claw back. He leant back against the wall instead but it wasn’t particularly comfortable. At least the chill was helping him stay awake.

“That’s true,” Will agrees, amiable and happy to be complicit in the slandering of one of his best friends, “but he’s also not wrong in this case.”

That was, to be fair, true. Cecil had a knack for suddenly discovering the virtues of the truth when it was most inconvenient. Nico _had_ been up reading comic books, but only because he’d been too scared to close his eyes. The war may be over, he may be happy, but it didn’t stop the nightmares. They’d intensified over the last week, he wasn’t too sure why, but every night he saw Tartarus, or his friends die or Will –

“Okay, okay,” Nico grumbled. “So maybe I was up a bit late. Maybe I got a bit distracted. But I’m fine. Only a little –“ he yawned which kind of disproved the point he was trying to make, but he soldiered on anyway, “tired.”

“Uh-huh.”

Will didn’t look convinced.

“So you want to come down to the volleyball tournament?”

Nico couldn’t say no now, even though he’d been planning on staying in his cabin and staring at the ceiling in the place of napping.

“Sure,” Nico said. He tried to inject cheer into his voice and sounded completely unconvincing.

“Or I need some stuff for the infirmary. Could convince Chiron to let you go with me. There’s this great café Cecil and I found last week where they do these fancy milkshakes.”

Will was messing with him. He had to be messing with him. Was there a slight trace of a smile at the edges of his mouth or was Nico imagining that. His expression was so sincere, but Will was a better actor than he let on.

“I like milkshakes,” Nico said weakly.

Will _was_ messing with him, that grin was too cheeky.

“Or we could stay here and watch a movie. Cecil owes me a go with the laptop.”

“That also sounds good,” Nico said mildly trying not to sound like he was too enthused by this idea.

Will nodded very seriously.

“I do fancy a milkshake though –“

“Do you want me to find Cecil or do you want to?” Nico said in a rush.

Will laughed.

“I’ll find him,” he said. “You stay here and try not to fall asleep.”

Nico didn’t have anything else to throw at Will so he glared instead. He thought Will probably got the message.

Will was gone for an inordinately long time or maybe it just felt like that because his eyes felt like sand. He had to go into the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. It made him wince, but it did do something to keep him in consciousness.

When Will finally returned it was with popcorn and marshmallows and m&ms, and the laptop tucked under one arm.

He let Will set everything up, even let him choose a film. He claimed it was because he was feeling magnanimous and was a kind and caring boyfriend. Will claimed it was because he was too tired to function, and did he not just want to nap instead? Nico glared at him.

“I’m fine,” he insisted.

Will shrugged and leant against his shoulder as the opening credits ran.

The shock of cold water could only last so long so Nico found himself compulsively snacking instead. It carried him through the first act of the film, stubbornness to not fall asleep through the second even though the bright colours of the film hurt Nico’s eyes and it was a struggle even to keep his head up.

They were entering the final phases of the film when Nico realised that Will was suddenly heavy against him. He turned and saw Will’s eyes closed, long gold lashes against his freckle dusted cheeks. Nico was surprised enough to give a soft smile.

“Night Will,” he said softly.

And if Will was asleep –

He didn’t think even the power of being stubborn could have kept him awake any longer. He was slumping, his mind was getting foggier. But Will was asleep so he’d never know.

And that was the end of that date.  


End file.
